Davis: Texas doesn't know what's coming

Published 2:11 pm, Saturday, April 5, 2014

AUSTIN - Sen. Wendy Davis gave a fiery speech to volunteers from around Texas Saturday that laid out key themes guiding her campaign for governor, including an effort to define Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott as an out-of-touch “insider.”

“Here we are together, to make history, to do something magical in this state,” Davis told the grassroots leaders gathered at an Austin Community College campus in East Austin.

“We have a choice this fall. And that choice is very, very clear. We can elect Greg Abbott, another insider who is not working for you,” she said.

The crowd interrupted her to boo Abbott's name, then came a shout from the audience: “Don't boo. Organize!”

Davis continued, “Or we can elect a governor who will fight for all hardworking Texans.

“And you can bet your boots - or your pink tennis shoes in some instances - that I will be, with your help, the next governor who will do just that,” said Davis, who shot to national attention with her filibuster against tighter abortion restrictions, for which she wore pink-hued running shoes.

Davis cited her commitment to quality, properly financed education and highlighted issues she has used against Abbott.

She pointed to Abbott's decision to campaign with Ted Nugent despite the rocker's incendiary comments about women, and an Express-News analysis that showed most female assistant attorneys general make less on average than do men in the same job classification.

Abbott's office said differences were explained by job-holders' experience, but agency figures showed there's not always a direct correlation.

She took direct aim at Abbott's education plan, which she called a feeble one that wouldn't properly serve all students. She pointed to a reference in Abbott's plan to scholar Charles Murray, who once wrote that “no woman has been a significant original thinker in any of the world's great philosophical traditions.”

“I've got news for you, Charles Murray,” she said. “You've got an original thinker right here.”

It was one more stop in the governor's race that revved up months ago, with Davis and Abbott taking direct aim at each other well before formally winning their party nominations for governor in March.

Abbott - a longtime statewide officeholder - said he wants to lead Texas to national greatness in key areas including education. He has sought to portray Davis as a liberal whose policy proposals are ill-defined and would harm the success Texas has enjoyed under a long stretch of Republican leadership.

Abbott's campaign also has accused her of “questionable ethics” in conducting her work as a lawyer while serving as a state senator. She said she has behaved ethically. In Texas' part-time Legislature, members often balance public service with private jobs.

Abbott's staunch opposition to abortion - he appears to rule out the procedure even when pregnancies result from rape or incest - also is in stark contrast to Davis' fight against tighter abortion restrictions that she said will interfere with women's access to health care and their decision-making

The volunteer leaders gave Davis an enthusiastic reception as she looked ahead to next Saturday, when she said she'll be in San Antonio to help lead her campaign's statewide door-to-door across Texas.

“This army that you've recruited is on the march,” Davis said, citing 14,225 volunteers around the state. “People - Texas - they don't know what's coming.”